Forage Selection of Native and Nonnative Woody Plants by Beaver in a Rare-Shrub Community in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina
| Autor: | H. David Clarke, C. Reed Rossell, Jennifer Rhode Ward, Scott Arico, Steven C. Patch, Jonathan L. Horton |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2014 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Southeastern Naturalist. 13:649-662 |
| ISSN: | 1938-5412 1528-7092 |
| Popis: | Castor canadensis (Beaver) is a selective forager that can modify the species composition and structure of plant communities. However, no studies have examined the use of woody plants by Beaver in temperate forests that contain a dominant nonnative plant. We investigated foraging of woody plants by Beaver in a riparian shrub community that is dominated by both native and nonnative species, including the federally threatened shrub Spiraea virginiana (Virginia Spiraea). We established 48 random, 25-m transects along a 12-km reach of the Cheoah River in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. We sampled woody plants every 5 m using a modified point-centered quarter method to estimate relative abundance and to quantify browsing by Beaver. We used a mixed linear model to determine Beaver forage selection on the 9 most abundant plant species and Virginia Spiraea. We recorded 984 plants of 58 woody species (55 native, 3 nonnative). Beaver browsed 24% of the woody species sampled and 8% of all stems... |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|